Groundprobe named Australia and NZ’s most innovative company for 2018

GroundProbe has been recognised as the most innovative company in Australia and New Zealand, taking out the number 1 spot on the Australian Financial Review’s List of Most Innovative Companies for 2018. The honour was announced last night at the 2018 AFR Most Innovative Companies List Awards Night. The list was comprised of the Top 100 innovative companies, compiled from over 1,000 nominations.

The AFR Most Innovative Companies List (previously the BRW Most Innovative Companies list) is now in its seventh year. The prestigious annual list ranks the most innovative organisations from Australia and New Zealand, and is the only national, cross-industry list of its kind.

GroundProbe submitted the Geotech Monitoring LiDAR (GML) under the ‘Best Product Innovation’ category.

The company’s David Noon has just been nominated to the International Mining Technology Hall of Fame – judging is just starting.

GroundProbe also received two special awards on the night for ‘Best Product Innovation’ and ‘Best Overall Innovation’; both of which were awarded for the Geotech Monitoring LiDAR (GML).

A panel of industry experts, together with leading innovation consultancy Inventium, rate the submissions based on the idea behind the innovation, how well it addresses the problem it is trying to solve, the quality and uniqueness of the solution and the level of impact that it has had in the real world. Also assessed are internal elements such as innovation culture, strategy, resources and process, which demonstrate a sustainable and repeatable approach to innovation.

GroundProbe is a global leader in the development and supply of advanced technology solutions to the mining and civil industries. With the ability to monitor and detect wall movement, understand when it becomes a problem, and predict when a collapse is likely to occur, customers are able to maximise productivity whilst ensuring a high safety standard.

GroundProbe CEO John Beevers says that GroundProbe’s focus on innovation is not by accident and it is a cornerstone of the business’ strategy for success.

“We made a conscious decision to adopt it as a business strategy and invest in how we deliver it, focussing on excelling in innovation and product leadership, and customer intimacy,” said Beevers.

“We micro fund ideas, we celebrate fast failures, and we congratulate and reward innovation on both a whole-company and individual employee level. We use it to lead our industry and differentiate ourselves from our competition.”

Importantly, GroundProbe also ensures that customers are brought along every stage of the innovation journey, engaging with them in several ways.

“We hold product development forums and workshops with our most strategic customers to brainstorm improvements and to push the limits of our technology,” said Lachlan Campbell, GroundProbe’s VP of Marketing and Technology.

“Very early in the piece we bring our customers in and mock up products for them to engage with, interact with and develop our product based on their directions and usage. These customers come with us on the development journey, becoming beta test sites and often early adopters of new technology.”

GroundProbe last entered the awards in 2016, where the company was awarded the 36th Most Innovative Company from a shortlist of over 1,000 entrants.